Katherine B. Rucinski

Johns Hopkins University

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Stefan Baral

Johns Hopkins University

Amrita Rao

Johns Hopkins University

Sheree Schwartz

Johns Hopkins University

Audrey Pettifor

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Kimberly A. Powers

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Daouda Diouf

Environment and Development Action Third World

Nancy Phaswana‐Mafuya

South African Medical Research Council

Kalai Willis

Johns Hopkins University

William C. Miller

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Nikita Viswasam

University of Maryland, College Park

Cooperative Institutions

Johns Hopkins University

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

National Institutes of Health

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

University of the Witwatersrand

University of Johannesburg

Public Health Department

United States Agency for International Development

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Johns Hopkins Medicine

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A moving target: impacts of lowering viral load suppression cutpoints on progress towards HIV epidemic control goals

AIDS (2023)

Joseph G. Rosen Steven J. Reynolds Ronald M. Galiwango Godfrey Kigozi Thomas C. Quinn

Redefining viral load suppression (VLS) using lower cutpoints could impact progress towards the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS 95–95–95 targets. We assessed impacts of lowering the VLS cutpoint on achieving the ‘third 95’ in the Rakai Community Cohort Study. Population VLS would fall from 86% to 84% and 76%, respectively, after lowering VLS cutpoints from <1000 to <200 and <50 copies/ml. The fraction of viremic persons increased by 17% after lowering the VLS cutpoint from <1000 to <200 copies/ml.

10.1097/qad.0000000000003593

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Citations (2)

Mapping the number of female sex workers in countries across sub-Saharan Africa

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023)

Ian Laga Xiaoyue Niu Katherine B. Rucinski Stefan Baral Amrita Rao

Female sex workers (FSW) are affected by individual, network, and structural risks, making them vulnerable to poor health and well-being. HIV prevention strategies and local community-based programs can rely on estimates of the number of FSW to plan and implement differentiated HIV prevention and treatment services. However, there are limited systematic assessments of the number of FSW in countries across sub-Saharan Africa to facilitate the identification of prevention and treatment gaps. Here we provide estimated population sizes of FSW and the corresponding uncertainties for almost all sub-national areas in sub-Saharan Africa. We first performed a literature review of FSW size estimates and then developed a Bayesian hierarchical model to synthesize these size estimates, resolving competing size estimates in the same area and producing estimates in areas without any data. We estimated that there are 2.5 million (95% uncertainty interval 1.9 to 3.1) FSW aged 15 to 49 in sub-Saharan Africa. This represents a proportion as percent of all women of childbearing age of 1.1% (95% uncertainty interval 0.8 to 1.3%). The analyses further revealed substantial differences between the proportions of FSW among adult females at the sub-national level and studied the relationship between these heterogeneities and many predictors. Ultimately, achieving the vision of no new HIV infections by 2030 necessitates dramatic improvements in our delivery of evidence-based services for sex workers across sub-Saharan Africa.

Credible interval

10.1073/pnas.2200633120

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Citations (8)

Evaluating the quality of HIV epidemiologic evidence for populations in the absence of a reliable sampling frame: a modified quality assessment tool

Annals of Epidemiology (2021)

Amrita Rao Sheree Schwartz Nikita Viswasam Katherine B. Rucinski Kimiko Van Wickle

Sampling frame

10.1016/j.annepidem.2021.07.009

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Citations (13)

Elevated Perceived Risk for HIV as a Barrier to Accessing Health Care Among Black Men Who Have Sex with Men

Prevention Science (2020)

Lisa A. Eaton Ryan J. Watson Jessica L. Maksut Katherine B. Rucinski Valerie A. Earnshaw

Health psychology

Risk Perception

10.1007/s11121-020-01135-1

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Citations (3)

Using factor analyses to estimate the number of female sex workers across Malawi from multiple regional sources

Annals of Epidemiology (2020)

Xiaoyue Niu Amrita Rao David Chen Ben Sheng Sharon S. Weir

Small Area Estimation

10.1016/j.annepidem.2020.12.001

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Citations (5)

Sustained Sexual Behavior Change After Acute HIV Diagnosis in Malawi

Sexually Transmitted Diseases (2018)

Katherine B. Rucinski Sarah E. Rutstein Kimberly A. Powers Dana K. Pasquale Ann M. Dennis

Background Identification of acute HIV infection (AHI) allows for important opportunities for HIV prevention through behavior change and biomedical intervention. Here, we evaluate changes in sexual risk behaviors among persons with AHI enrolled in a combined behavioral and biomedical intervention designed to reduce onward transmission of HIV. Methods Participants were randomized to standard HIV counseling, a multisession behavioral intervention, or a multisession behavioral intervention plus antiretrovirals. Sexual behaviors were assessed periodically over 1 year. Results Four weeks after diagnosis, the predicted probability of reporting multiple sexual partners decreased from 24% to 9%, and the probability of reporting unprotected sex decreased from 71% to 27%. These declines in sexual risk behaviors were sustained over follow-up irrespective of study arm. Conclusions Diagnosis of AHI alone may be sufficient to achieve immediate and sustained behavior change during this highly infectious period.

10.1097/olq.0000000000000873

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Citations (10)

Developmental Trajectories of Transactional Sex and Age-Disparate Relationships During Adolescence: An HPTN 068 Analysis

AIDS and Behavior (2024)

Nivedita L. Bhushan Katherine B. Rucinski Marie C. D. Stoner Stephanie M. DeLong F. Xavier Gómez‐Olivé

Health psychology

Animal ecology

Transactional sex

10.1007/s10461-024-04470-4

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Citations (1)

Trajectories of fertility intentions among women living with HIV in South Africa

Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) (2020)

Katherine B. Rucinski Kimberly A. Powers Audrey Pettifor Vivian Black Brian W. Pence

10.17615/2d6q-9k15

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Longitudinal patterns of unmet need for contraception among women living with HIV on antiretroviral therapy in South Africa

Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) (2018)

Katherine B. Rucinski Kimberly A. Powers Sheree Schwartz Brian W. Pence Benjamin H. Chi

Longitudinal Study

10.17615/86h4-ge88

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Perpetuated HIV Microaggressions: A Novel Scale to Measure Subtle Discrimination Against People Living With HIV

AIDS Education and Prevention (2021)

Marcie Berman Lisa A. Eaton Ryan J. Watson Jessica L. Maksut Katherine B. Rucinski

HIV discrimination has served as a barrier to addressing the HIV epidemic and providing effective HIV treatment and care. Measuring HIV discrimination, particularly covert HIV discrimination, has proven to be complex. Adapted from a previous scale, we developed a perpetuated HIV micro-aggressions scale to assess covert forms of discriminatory beliefs among HIV-negative/unknown HIV status individuals. Factor analysis resulted in three subscales, explaining 73.58% of the scale's variance. The new scale demonstrated both convergent validity (HIV prejudice, HIV stereotypes) and discriminant validity (alcohol use, depressive symptomology). Perpetuated HIV microaggressions were significantly associated with HIV conspiracy beliefs, HIV prejudice, and HIV stereotypes. This new scale can serve as an important tool in evaluating perpetuated HIV microaggressions among HIV-negative individuals.

Prejudice (legal term)

Covert

Discriminant validity

Convergent validity

10.1521/aeap.2021.33.1.1

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Citations (1)